Thanks to to Hannah G for including Demonkeeper (Book I) in her ‘spooky book list’!
Is Halloween your favorite holiday? Do your kids like books? Do you want your kids to appreciate your aesthetic, without being traumatized for life? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve…
Designing book covers is fun! I’ve always thought so but have not been so intimately involved in the process until recently. I’m working with ePublisher Gere Donovan Press to bring my best selling German series, Mapper, to the United States. We decided to expand the three book series into six parts for U.S. readers. Here’s the visual process we went through to come up with our final (and awesome) designs!
In August, Gere Donovan sent me this image with the idea that the cover would stay the same for all six books but with different titles.
It didn’t win my team over – spoiler, there is no giant spider in my story – it was a little busy for the eye, we wanted different cover images for each book, and there was something oddly familiar about the illustration. Upon some research, I discovered that it was the same image used for Author/Illustrator Walter Moers’ book, A Wild Ride Through the Night.
The illustration is in the public domain, as it’s one of hundreds of engravings created by Gustave Dore. That got me thinking…
….I looked up Gustave Dore and found other images. Did I mention there are hundreds?
‘Hello, Photoshop!”
While I messed around on Photoshop, I conducted a highly scientific survey of friends (a one-line Facebook post) about the proposed book cover from Gere Donovan. Many liked the artistic look of Dore’s work. But my team and I wondered…”will it sell books?” I recalled once talking books with THE buyer for a major retailer who said definitively, “I can tell if a book will sell by its cover.”
She then looked down at the copy of my soon to be released book The Dead Boys. Let’s just say she did not immediately place a big order. (Insert sad face here and shameless plug – if you loved the new series Stranger Things, you will also love The Dead Boys.) Anyway, back to the Mapper Series covers. My team decided to experiment with something more modern-looking.
We raided iStock and other photo sites to find some images with cool looking knights and came up with these.
We kind of liked them. But some of our friends from the follow-up Facebook survey thought they were boring. Too traditional.
We probably spent way too much time on this process (but hey, I was having fun) and then decided we should have a conference call with Scott from Gere Donovan. We fretted about letting them know that we weren’t sold on their first idea (the Gustave Dore image). But we shouldn’t have been so worried. Five minutes into the call, Scott said he was really happy that we didn’t like the cover! Upon reflection, he had already decided he didn’t like it either. Phew! After further discussion, Scott suggested that we could use more modern images and cited some trends he’d recently noticed in book covers. We liked his thoughts and, after several rounds of shuffling images between six books, Photoshopping, and further extensive surveying of our beta viewers, we loved what they came up with!
Oh…and by the way, they are Kindle-ready by by clicking here!
Enjoy!
Royce Buckingham, well known in Germany for his urban and medieval fantasy story-telling, gives readers something entirely different with September’s release of Kaltgestellt (U.S. Title: Impasse, St Martin’s Press)
The two-time best selling author applied his legal expertise to tell a tale, part legal/part adventure thriller of washed up 40-year old lawyer Stu Stark who’s law partner sends him on a one-week trip to the Alaskan wilderness to rediscover his manhood. But after a horrible week, Stu realizes that no one is coming back for him. Dying, Stu is found by a grizzled old hunter who informs him that winter has set in, and they’re not going anywhere for a while. Presumed dead, life goes on back in Stu’s hometown in ways Stu couldn’t even begin to imagine…
Als Staatsanwalt Stu Stark den wichtigsten Fall seiner Karriere verliert, wird er fristlos entlassen. Um sein angeschlagenes Ego aufzupolieren, lässt er sich auf einen Trip durch Alaskas Wildnis ein. Was wie ein Abenteuer beginnt, entwickelt sich schnell zum Albtraum – denn nach einer Woche wird er nicht am vereinbarten Treffpunkt abgeholt. Man hat ihn im eisigen Polarklima zurückgelassen, wo ihm schon bald der Tod droht. Seine einzige Rettung ist ein alter Jäger, der ihn über den Winter bei sich aufnimmt. Für den ehemaligen Anwalt beginnt ein beinhartes Überlebenstraining, das er nutzen will, um sich an denjenigen zu rächen, die ihn verraten haben …
I just had the opportunity to speak to a room full of people who, like me, love to write. I spoke at the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association’s annual conference which feels like a homecoming of sorts since I first attended in 1996 as an aspiring writer. My career has come a long way in 20 years – 11 published books and counting – so I was excited to share some time-saving tips with my audience. Special thanks to PNWA for including me as a presenter this year!
Here’s the great group of folks who attended the presentation, “Take a Month to Save a Year”.
Some of them have asked if I would share my notes with them , so I have attached my outline below. Enjoy!
Royce Buckingham_Take a Month to Save a Year_PNWA 2016
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.
A riotously good adventure. — Kirkus Reviews
…lots of adventure, fights, and spilled blood that will attract middle-grade readers. Keep this on hand for those who want lots of action with some mild gross-out scenes. –School Library Journal
If your child loves this story, find more great middle grade books on my Amazon page including The Demonkeeper Series and my award-winning book, The Dead Boys.
80,000 words into Princess Assassin. That’s 320 pages. A full book for a normal human being, but I guess I’m a glutton for punishment…and so are my characters!
At long last, fans in the U.S. can order up the entire Demonkeeper series, which topped the bestseller charts in Germany!
You can purchase them for your eReader by clicking on the links below, then dive into a fantastic urban fantasy where, if left unattended, demons cause all sorts of trouble.
Links for Demonkeeper:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo
Links for Demoneater:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo
Links for Demoncity:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo
What are reviewers saying about Demonkeeper? Click here.
I am curious to know your opinion. Please take a moment to complete the short poll below.
Time to Drop Everything and Read and celebrate International Children’s Book Day with a special promotion for eReaders in the U.S. and UK on The Goblin Problem!
Promo runs through 4/4/2016 in the UK. Go to amazon.co.uk.
U.S. readers have until 4/8/2016 for this special offer. Visit amazon.com.
Prefer it in print? You can order that too!
I am looking forward to connecting with other writers, fans and industry professionals over the next few months.
On March 12th, Windward Boosters is teaming up with Barnes and Noble in Bellingham for a BookFair to benefit Windward High School programs. At 5 pm there will be five local YA writers: Nick James, Jesikah Sundin, Tara Ellis, Robert Slater and myself. We will each read a bit and then take questions and sign books!
CAVALCADE of AUTHORS WEST! Teachers, students, librarians, and basically EVERYONE who loves books/reading/writing! Guess what?
Cavalcade of Authors West 2016 is scheduled and I’ll be there again this year! So, you have two things to do:
– Mark your calendars for April 30th, 2016
– Start checking out COAWest on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram…
I’ve been invited to participate in the 2016 Chuckanut Writer’s conference this year in June. I’ll be leading a panel on writing for a younger audience.
Middle Grade and YA literature have their own quirks. This breakout session will explore the conflict, content, and technique issues unique to children’s literature. Royce Buckingham is an award winning and bestselling author of ten novels, including middle grade, young adult, and a grown-up book. In this session, Royce will help aspiring children’s writers execute their ideas in a child-friendly way.
Click here for information and registration.
I am pleased to announce that I will be returning to the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Conference this year as a presenter! More details on the event can be found here.
There is always an air of excitement around the house when a book is about to be released, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that not one, but two of my stories will be available for German readers in 2016.
This month — on January 18 to be exact — Die Rubinrote Konigin will land in readers’ hands or Kindles. It is the third of my first ever medieval fantasy series, entirely written and published first, and catapulted to best-seller status in Germany, by Random House – Blanvalet. For more details or to order, click here.
And later this year in September, my U.S. Adventure Thriller debut, IMPASSE (St. Martin’s Press), will be available for German readers as Kalt Gestellt. Click here for more info.
The two books couldn’t be more different from one another although both were equally entertaining to write.
Enjoy!
ROYCE BUCKINGHAM 